


and i will give up this fight (love in the nick of time)

by likeanchors



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Genderswap, Heartache, High School Drama, OT5 Friendship, Pining, teenage angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-17
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-09 04:46:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1969566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likeanchors/pseuds/likeanchors
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Exams were in a week and Lou was, quite frankly, falling to pieces under the pressure of good grades and dealing with the emotional repercussions of a longstanding crush that would not let her free of it’s clutches.</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Lou has had a crush on Nick for what seems like forever. Not that Nick even knows she exists.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and i will give up this fight (love in the nick of time)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Love_Me_Dead](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Love_Me_Dead/gifts).



> This is for Love_Me_Dead who requested, "A genderswap high school AU based on Teenage Dirtbag.". While I did listen to the Mary Lambert cover as suggested, I did spend a good few hours with the Frank Hamilton version on repeat while writing this.
> 
> Thank you to V for all the help with figuring out the Sixth Form stuff and for checking this over. All remaining errors are my own. And to K for listening to me wibble and agreeing to read the first part when I was freaking out about it.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is purely fiction and intended for entertainment purposes only.

Lou felt her breath catch in the back of her throat followed by the tingling burn as her cheeks and neck slowly turn bright pink. This is becoming a common thing whenever she saw Nick. Her body becoming this neon sign that declared her crush for all the world to see. 

 

“You okay?” Harry asked, his eyebrows furrowed with concern.

 

Nodding, Lou barely managed a, “Mmmhmm,” before pushing her hair behind her ears. Her eyes followed Nick across the crowded room until she sat down with her friends, their heads bent as they cackled together. Lou barely bit back a wistful sigh. What she wouldn’t give to be the one to make Nick laugh like that.

 

“Ground control to Lou, come in Lou,” Niall stage whispered. Out of the corner of her eye Lou saw Niall lean over Harry and Zayn to tap his fingers against Lou’s head.

 

Huffing out a breath of distaste, Lou leveled the boy with a glare that made Harry and Zayn laugh. 

 

“C’mon, Niall, you know better than to interrupt our princess when she’s on Nick watch,” Harry said under his breath.

 

Lou could feel her eyes widen, her mouth drop open at that. Her ridiculous crush was supposed to be one of those things that they never talked about. Frowning, Lou crossed her arms across her chest and said, “You’re no better when Caroline’s in the room.”

 

The soft ‘ooh’s’ that came from Zayn and Niall were enough to wipe the frown from Lou’s brow. Surreptitiously glancing out of the corner of her eye, Lou couldn’t help the small smile that turned up the corners of her lips. Nick’s grin was infections, her smile lighting up her entire face as they all turned their eyes to the doorway. Lou didn’t miss the way Nick’s face seemed to become luminescent; she didn’t even have to turn her head to know who it was.

 

“Look at the way she’s staring at Nick, like she’s a piece of meat,” someone said. It was soft enough that it had come from across the other side of the room, and the peels of laughter that followed made Lou sink down in her chair.

 

She felt Liam’s arm slip around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest. Still Lou couldn’t even look away, not even when Nick pressed an open mouthed kiss to her boyfriend, James’s, lips. Sighing softly, Lou forced a small smile onto her lips and looked up at Liam. “Thought you weren’t coming in today,” she said, snuggling deeper into his embrace. 

 

“Mum threatened to make me wish I was sick so I decided to suck it up,” Liam whispered.

 

Snorting at that, Lou kicked lightly at Harry’s calf until she had his attention. “The one time our Li tries to be rebellious his mum threatens him.”

 

Shrugging herself out of Liam’s arms, Lou leant over Harry so she could quickly ask Zayn about their English Lit homework while Niall leant over both of them to discuss last night’s football scores with Liam and Harry. If anyone had bothered to pay them any attention they’d probably notice the five of them looked like an oddly shaped pretzel.

 

When the warning bell went off Lou grasped at Harry’s wrist. “Why don’t we all skip Sociology and go to Costa for cappuccinos?”

 

“You can’t suggest skiving every lesson, Lou,” Zayn pointed out when Niall started shaking his head. 

 

“They’re only suggestions, Zee,” Lou reminded him. “None of you ever take me up on my offers, or let Niall come with me, so we’re forever suffering through classes.”

 

Lou could see Zayn trying his hardest not to smile and grinned when he rolled his eyes. “C’mon, we’ll be late.”

 

**

 

Lou spent the majority of Sociology day dreaming about Nick rather than reading about ‘Family and Households’. It was much more satisfying to imagine a world where Nick would rather kiss her than kiss stupid James. A world where Nick would hold her hand and giggle into her ear because Lou had said something unbearably funny.

 

Flipping through her Sociology course book, Lou sighed and slumped down in her seat. It wasn’t just that Nick was the most beautiful girl that Lou had ever seen. Nick was funny and smart and caring, so different from the people she hung out with. Nick was different from any girl Lou had ever met.

 

“Psst!”

 

Glancing up, Lou narrowed her eyes at Niall. “What?” she mouthed.

 

Niall rolled his eyes and leant over Zayn who muttered obscenities under his breath and shoved at Niall’s shoulder. 

 

“Have you seen Twitter?” Niall asked, his face far too serious.

 

Surreptitiously pulling her phone out of her pocket, Lou pulled up her Twitter feed. 

 

**msaimeephillips** @msaimeephillips 2h

Who’s coming to Ibiza this summer? I need confirmations so we can book!

 

Making a face, Lou looked at Niall. Surely he wasn’t propositioning that they go to Ibiza just because everyone else was. Niall made the gesture to continue though.

 

**nick grimshaw** @grimmers 1h 

instagram.com/p/p5gGJSKUyX/

 

Lou made a note to check Instagram later, hoping there would be one of those cute selfies where you could see all the freckles over the bridge of Nick’s nose. Her freckles were so lovely.

 

**greg james** @gregjames 6m

jesus! @jamesdarnby was caught with a knife on school property! wtf?!

 

**chris stark** @chris_stark 5m

@gregjames no fucking way?!?! 

 

**ian chaloner** @ichaloner 4m

@gregjames @chris_stark maybe you should both mind your own business!

 

**alexa chung** @alexa_chung 4m

@gregjames @chris_stark @ichaloner why are you even talking about this even on twitter?

 

Lifting her eyes to meet Niall’s, Lou felt her bottom jaw drop. Balancing her elbow on the table top, Lou gulped and rested her chin in her hands. This was the single most major thing that had ever happened at their school. Like, it blew that time Aimee got caught blowing Ian in the disabled loos last year out of the water. 

 

It was only moments before the classroom descended into chaos. Phone trilled with alerts and message tones as word got out about James. Amidst it all Lou sat with one arm wrapped tight around her waist. Her mind had drifted back to Nick as soon as she’d slipped her phone back into her pocket. How had Nick found out about this and was she okay were the two questions that kept coming to the forefront of her mind. 

 

Unable to get the class to settle down, Ms Hobbs dismissed them all. 

 

 

**

 

“What do you think James was going to do?” Lou asked Zayn later that night. 

 

They were supposed to be working on their English Lit papers while Harry was at work but so far they had spent most of their time playing Playstation games and passing a battered copy of Great Expectations back and forth. 

 

They were supposed to be reading passages aloud but were both finding it difficult to get into. 

 

“I dunno,” Zayn said on an exhale. Lou pulled her knees up to her chest and leant her head against the back of the couch. Mrs Malik would probably send her home any minute now but the question had been plaguing her since the news broke in Sociology. “He probably just wanted to scare someone.”

 

Pushing her lips together as if she was in thought, Lou fought to keep the question inside. Zayn was the only one who wouldn’t make a joke about it, but she still worried. 

 

“Spit it out then,” Zayn said softly, a wry smile at his lips.

 

Lou could feel the humiliation burn at her neck. Closing her eyes she let out a long, stuttering breath and asked, “Do you think Nick’s okay?”

 

The smile fell from Zayn’s lips and he shrugged, just a tiny movement of his his shoulders but Lou still saw it.

 

“Lou, as much as I love having you here, it’s time to go home, darling,” Mrs Malik sang, her head popping around the corner of the door jam. 

 

Sighing as though she was put upon, Lou climbed to her feet and shouldered her backpack. “I’ll pick you up on the way to purgatory tomorrow, yeah?” she asked, a cheeky smile on her face as Mrs Malik swatted her bum.

 

“You go to learn, not to be punished,” Mrs Malik reminded Lou, turning to look at Zayn who was chuckling. Under his mothers stare, Zayn visibly shrunk into himself which only made Lou laugh out loud. “I never have this much trouble with Liam,” Mrs Malik claimed, woefully. “Such a good child, that one.”

 

Lou snorted and wrapped her arms around Mrs Malik who squeezed her tight in return. “He may be the good one,” Lou said solemnly, “but I’m still your favourite. Bye Zee!”

 

Collecting her car keys from the side table by the front door, Lou waved over her shoulder as the door closed behind her.

 

**

 

Nick wasn’t in school the next day. Lou managed to make it until Lunch before she started moaning about it. 

 

“Do you think she’s okay?” Lou asked, dropping her bag onto the seat next to Liam who jumped. Grinning, Lou pushed her bag to the floor and sat down, pushing her long hair behind her ears with her fingertips. “Like, she’s not in school and her social media is quiet and it’s _never_ quiet-”

 

“Oh my god, Louis, take a freaking breath, will you?” Harry said, clapping one hand over Lou’s mouth. “She’s allowed to be off today. She’s gonna need a few days to come to terms with the fact that her boyfriend was arrested yesterday and everyone’s gossiping about it.”

 

Lou’s secretly happy that none of her friends point out that as far as crushes go, her attachment to Nick is a little extreme. 

 

“Have you done the Great Expectations chapters?” Harry asked Zayn before taking a large bite out of his apple.

 

Sighing dramatically, Lou sunk down in her chair and picked at her ham and cheese sandwich.

 

**

 

On Sunday morning Lou woke up to a dozen text messages from her boys and ferocious knocking on the front door. She’d been at work until half one that morning and didn’t appreciate being woken up before noon. 

 

“Niall, it’s a little early for such a wake up call, don’t you think?” Lou heard her Mum chastise from downstairs.

 

“Soz, Jay, I just really need to see Lou,” Niall explained. He sounded flustered which made Lou sit up in her bed. During the night her braid had fallen out and left thick half-curled, half-matted chunks of hair that fell into her eyes.

 

Rubbing her eyes with the palms of her eyes, Lou let out a wide yawn just as Niall crashed through her bedroom door. 

 

“Good morning, Sunshine!” He bellowed, launching himself at the bed. Louis let out a soft shriek, curling her knees up towards her stomach just as Niall landed where her feet had been. “Lazy little thing, ain’t ya? It’s well after daybreak and you’re _still_ in bed?”

 

“I finished work late,” Louis explained, waving her hand dismissively. 

 

“So you haven’t seen Instagram yet?” Niall asked, an edge of caginess in his tone.

 

Frowning, Louis leant to the side so that she could scoop her phone off of the floor. Sitting cross-legged beneath the blankets, Louis stole a look at Niall who gave her a small sad smile. Louis blamed her brain still being heavy with sleep. Surely it was nothing. Maybe a short fifteen second video of one of the boys doing something stupid. It didn’t stop a bubble of anxiety from growing in her chest, though. Niall never behaved this odd, nor did he just drop by before Lou responded to the barrage of texts she usually woke up to on a Sunday morning.

 

Confused and beginning to panic, Louis slowly scrolled through her timeline. There was Lottie and Fizzy sharing a plate of pancakes from earlier this morning, Liam at the gym, a bunch of random accounts that Lou followed and- oh. 

 

Pulling her phone up to her face, Lou felt something break inside of her. Under the Lo-Fi filter Nick was intently kissing someone. Nick was kissing a girl. Nick was kissing a girl who wasn’t her.

 

**msaimeephillips** @adamdanz why the fuck would you put this on instagram?!

 

**theohurts** @adamdanz this is low, man. 

 

**abbyjames** i always knew nick was a giant lezzer. she was just using james!

 

**jackdillon** hahahaHA! James is out of the picture for less than a week and Nick’s already moved on?

 

**caseyjones** @adamdanz who’s the girl she’s snogging?!

 

**alexachung** god don’t you people have lives of your own?! @adamdanz you are scum

 

Lou felt her stomach drop. Locking the phone she dropped it onto the mattress beside her where it bounced and fell onto the floor with a dull thud.

 

“You okay?” Niall asked a minute later when Lou hadn’t moved or said anything.

 

“Yeah,” Lou said, pressing a smile onto her face. “ ‘Course I am!”

 

“Lou-” Niall started. Lou cut him off by throwing the blankets back and climbing out of bed. 

 

She felt nauseous and light-headed and heartsick. Crossing over to her chest of drawers, Lou glanced at Niall over her shoulders, “I’m gon’ get dressed, then we can go meet H and Zee to do our Sociology coursework at Costa if you want?”

 

Pulling out one of her ratty t-shirts, Lou fought against the burn at the back of her eyes. “You can stay, if you want a show,” Lou added. The laughter that bubbled out of her when Niall hurried from the room with bright pink cheeks and stuttered apologies momentarily let Lou feel like the world wasn't ending.

 

**

 

“To put it nicely,” Lou said to Liam. “I hope you choke.”

 

They were sitting in the music room and it had been a month since Nick had kissed Sarah. A month of listening to people whisper about Nick and Sarah and James Darnby. A month of Lou's heart feeling battered and sore. A month of pretending that everything was okay and that she’d moved on.

 

“Lou!” Zayn chastised, putting putting the sheet music on top of the piano.

 

“Sorry, sorry,” Lou said, rubbing at her forehead with the forefinger and thumb of her right hand. Her head was killing her, something she put down to being up until two am looking through Sarah’s Facebook page. 

 

“Why don’t we take a short break,” Liam suggested, lightly rubbing Lou’s shoulder. “We’ve been at it for almost two hours now.”

 

Nodding, Lou grabbed her bag and pocketed her phone. “Ten minutes, yeah? Then we can spend the last forty minutes really getting this done.”

 

Exams were quickly coming up and Lou was feeling the stress and desperation seep into her. She felt it mixing with her heartache and it was making her feel so far from the person that she was. 

 

Barreling through the exit doors, Lou rounded the corner and took a deep breath. She felt as if she could scream and it would be a never ending sound. There was so much inside of her that was crying out to be released. Everything was sitting just inside of her, clawing at her insides like a rabid animal.

 

Reaching into her bag, Louis fumbled for the packet of cigarettes that she hid inside of a box of tampons. There was an alcove at the back of the building that was perfect for the quickest smoke break known to mankind away from prying eyes.

 

Lou had just inhaled the first breath of smoke, her lungs screaming at the invasion. It was odd that this was here stress coping mechanism given how much she actually hated it. For hours afterwards her tongue felt disgusting, her throat scratchy and dry. But she also loved the way it felt like everything that was wrong was manifesting physically.

 

“Nick!” A shrill voice cried, and Lou’s heart felt like it was somewhere near her stomach, beating double time. “Nick, come back!”

 

“Leave me alone, Lex!” 

 

Lou felt her heartbeat slow, possibly even stop for a moment. It always did that when she heard Nick’s voice, the delicious slow, rasp that made her body tingle. This time the slow, lazy drawl was tinged with sadness and what Lou thought might be tears. Lou was half tempted to pop her head around the corner and look, but the idea of Nick crying made her chest ache tenfold.

 

“Nick, please. They didn’t mean it.” 

 

Lou assumed that “Lex” was Alexa, one of Nick’s closer friends. One of the few that didn’t make Lou feel like she was invisible. 

 

“They did though,” Nick pointed out. She sounded so miserable that Lou felt it in her bones. Stubbing out the cigarette, Lou crept to the very corner of the alcove. 

 

“They think it’s so funny, that my life and my feelings are entertainment for their purposes,” Nick hiccoughed, and Lou could tell she was definitely crying. “They compare Sarah to James hoping I’ll give them something. Then try to get me to rate other girls and kiss other girls and, and, and-” A giant sob cut Nick off. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Lex. Why can’t they just leave me alone?”

 

Lou didn’t hear what happened next but when she peered around the corner she could see Alexa Chung holding Nick tight, her hand sweeping up and down Nick’s back slowly as Nick sobbed into her shoulder. 

 

Lou’s heart thundered in her chest and she carefully crept from the alcove. She needed to get back to the music room or Liam would come looking for her and call her a glutton for punishment, again. 

 

“Boys are shits,” Alexa told Nick. “And you don’t deserve this. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about Sarah.”

 

Nick laughed darkly at that, the sound forcing Lou’s eyes back to the girls who were standing so much closer to where she was now. “Yeah, well. That’s sorta my own fault, innit? Shite taste in boys and girls, it would seem.”

 

Lou felt her face twist; her lips and forehead furrowing out of frustration. Frustration that for so long Nick had been unattainable because she was straight and now she was questioning _and_ seemed to have begun giving up on girls and boys alike. Frustration that no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t seem to get over this girl. Life really was unfair.

 

Alexa seemed to notice her standing there staring at them, though she didn’t seem to say anything to say anything to Nick. Her eyes seemed to bore into Lou and say 'get out of here! This is private!'. 

 

Luck had never been on Lou's side, though. 

 

Lou’s phone started to ring, Paynoflashing on the screen. Like a deer caught in the headlines, Lou gaped at her phone and glanced up at Nick and Alexa who were both now staring at her. Feeling her heart thunder in her chest, Lou ducked her head and answered the call, violent red flushing up throat to stain her cheeks with embarrassment.

 

“I’m coming,” Lou choked down the phone, unable to look up to see if Nick and Alexa were still looking at her.

 

Hopefully it would just look like she’d been coming from around the corner to the music centre. Reefing open the door, Lou raced inside. Just before the door closed she looked back to see Alexa still hugging Nick, gently swaying from side to side. Her heart in her throat, Lou skulked back to where Zayn and Liam were waiting for her.

 

**

 

“I think Lou’s losing it,” Niall stage whispered to Zayn while Lou sobbed into Harry’s shoulder a few weeks later.

 

Exams were in a week and Lou was, quite frankly, falling to pieces under the pressure of good grades and dealing with the emotional repercussions of a longstanding crush that would not let her free of it’s clutches.

 

“Thanks for pointing that out, Captain Obvious,” Zayn sneered back. Shaking his head at Niall as if to say ‘Did that really need saying?’

 

“You’re welcome, Lieutenant Sarcasm!” Niall replied with an easy smile.

 

“It’s okay, Lou,” Harry whispered, stroking one hand down the Lou’s back while glaring at the other boys. They were supposed to be revising for their English and Sociology exams that were only days away. 

 

They’d been half way through talking through the practice exam they’d taken earlier when Lou’s eyes had started leaking. They made it through to the answers to the Shakespeare questions before Lou started sobbing outright. 

 

She couldn’t properly articulate why she was reacting like this. The questions were simple enough. But Lou knew that she had answered half of them wrong despite knowing the answers. She hated exams; she tested terribly despite the fact she was an average student. 

 

“It’s not okay,” Lou cried. Her face was red and splotchy, streaked with tears as she looked up at Harry. She knew she was pitiful to behold. “If I don’t get A’s I won’t get into Uni and I’ll be stuck here forever pining over a girl who doesn’t even know I exist.”

 

“Hey, c’mon, you know this stuff, Lou,” Harry murmured, his lips pressed to Lou’s hairline. “You just need to stop psyching yourself out and second guessing everything.”

 

Tucking herself further into Harry’s side, Lou pouted at the exam paper open in front of her until the tears stopped leaking out of the corners of her eyes. Niall offered to make them all cups of tea and Zayn told him to bring back a packet of HobNobs or not to come back at all.

 

 

**

 

After her last exam, Lou turned her phone off, crawled into her bed and wrapped the blankets around herself until she was a human burrito. 

 

She was going to sleep for a week.

 

 

**

 

“Lou,” Liam sighed, trying to cajole Lou out of her blanket burrito two days later. “C’mon, babe, exams are over! You should be happy now.”

 

“No,” Lou wailed, pressing her face tighter into her pillow.

 

She should be happy. That was precisely the issue. There was one more week of exams, and then the Leavers Ball to contend with. But more than that, there was two months until results were posted. Two months of torture until she found out if she had done enough to get her into Salford. 

 

Lou was too busy wallowing to notice that Liam had wrapped his arms around her until both she and her blankets were being lifted off of the bed. Screeching, loudly, Lou whacked one fist at Liam. “Unhand me!”

 

“No offence, Lou, but you stink,” Liam murmured, his nose wrinkled as if his nose had been offended. 

 

“It’s like the centre of the sun under these blankets,” Lou confessed. Leaving out the part where she hadn’t showered since the written music exam a few days earlier. 

 

“Gross,” Liam managed around a shocked bubble of laughter. “You’re still coming with me next Tuesday, right?”

 

Letting out a soft, clicking ‘tsk’, Lou shifted uncomfortably and made a face at Liam. “Wouldn’t you rather go with Sof?”

 

“Nah, she’s going with a bunch of her friends. Same as me. I’m going with you and H and Zee and Ni.”

 

“You realise I’m the only one who doesn’t fit in the rhyming scheme, right?” Lou asked, if only to distract them both from the discussion at hand. “H, Ni, Li, Zee... Lou.”

 

Lou watched Liam roll his eyes before he bodily moved her again so that she was sitting on the bed, his arm coming around her shoulders to hug her into his chest. “Stop being silly. You’re our favourite and you’re coming with us.” Liam said, his tone firm and serious.

 

Lou sighed and Liam quickly added, “If you try and get out of it, we’re just going to follow you and keep you company wherever you end up.”

 

“Li-” Lou started. Liam cut her off swiftly, one hand covering her mouth. 

 

“No arguments, Lou. We’re your friends and we are spending our last official school outing together. You’re not skipping the Leavers Ball.”

 

Lou didn’t argue after that.

 

**

 

“Stop fiddling with your skirt, you look gorgeous,” Zayn whispered, coming up behind Lou. 

 

It was worse than she’d imagined. The Leavers Ball, that is. Zayn and the boys had been wonderful but everything else was awful.

 

The girls who had been horrible to her, on and off, for the last few years were smiling and preening for the cameras. Their hands clutching at one another, their unfortunate dates, random passers-by who they hadn’t spared a moments notice for since infants.

 

Watching them had been comical until Casey Jones had spotted her and dragged her snivelling cronies who had been reduced to red-eyed, mewling wretches.

 

“Lou, oh, Lou, we’re going to miss you so much,” Abby James cried. Lou saw her hand grapple at Lucy Mitchell’s arm and had to resist the urge to snicker.

 

“It doesn’t have to be goodbye,” Lou said, although it came out as more of a directive. “There’s Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, why, it’s like we’ll always see each other and know what’s going on.”

  
The thought of knowing what was going on with these girls for years to come made Louis nauseous. They made half-hearted attempts to hug her, their crying jags sending them into one another’s arms instead.

 

“I hate goodbyes,” Casey cried, waving at Lou over her shoulder as the others led her away.

 

Lou could hear Zayn laughing behind her. Before she turned around she could sense the other three were there, giggling like the hyenas from The Lion King behind her.

 

“Have you seen Nick yet?” Harry asked, an air of innocence about him, were it not for the cunning gleam in his eyes.

 

Shaking her head, Lou’s fingers crept up to play with her messy, low-slung chignon. 

 

Turning on the balls of her feet, Lou’s eyes sought out Nick. She almost jumped out of her skin when she saw the tall, willowy brunette walking towards her. 

 

Glancing around her to make sure she wasn’t heading towards one of her friends who was incidentally standing somewhere in her vicinity, Lou felt her heart rate increase and her knees go weak. Nick Grimshaw, undeniable goddess and the undisputed love of Lou’s entire Sixth Form career was walking towards her like they were old friends. 

 

“Fuck,” Lou whispered under her breath. Turning back to look at her friends who look too amused by the turn of events, Lou looked at them with wide eyes. She wanted to ask them for confirmation that this was indeed happening but the polite cough at her shoulder had her swinging back around. Her wayward hand colliding with Nick’s hip.

 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” Lou said, her voice coming out breathless and frantic at the same time.

 

Nick laughed, her brown eyes warm and amused. Lou found herself captivated by the smattering of freckles over the bridge of Nick’s nose, her cheeks and forehead. Her eyes drifted down to the kind smile that stretched Nick’s lips upwards and Lou felt like she would give anything to see that smile for the rest of her life.

 

“Hi,” Nick said, softly. Almost hesitantly.

 

“Hi,” Lou stuttered back. Her mind was completely blank. Why was Nick Grimshaw standing here talking to her when she could be talking to anyone else.

 

“It’s weird,” Nick said, leaning forward as though she was sharing a secret with Lou. “I’ve had two years to get to know you and I left it until tonight.”

 

Unbearably confused, Lou just looked at Nick. She figured she must look like a stunned mullet or something but she didn’t know what to say. 

 

“This might be a bit weird, but I saw on Facebook that you like The Killers and, well, I have two tickets for their gig in Manchester this weekend,” Nick said. 

 

Lou felt her chest twinge. Nick was rambling and it was horribly endearing and perfect. Her cheeks were stained pink and she couldn’t meet Lou’s eyes and Lou felt like she might actually explode from the happy, fuzzy feeling that sat low in her stomach.

 

“You want to go with me?” Lou asked, softly and she could hear the hesitance in her own voice.

 

Nick nodded, her bottom lip pulled in between her teeth as she raised her eyes to look at Lou. They both blushed, turning their heads as if to lessen the giddiness that threatened to overwhelm them both.

 

“Okay,” Lou whispered.

 

The smile that Nick threw at Lou made her knees tremble. 

 

As if emboldened by Lou’s agreement, Nick took a few small steps closer until she was close enough to Lou that there was barely an inch of space. She handed her phone to Lou, a new contact screen glaring up at her. Taking the hint for what it was, Lou added her phone number and handed the device back to Nick who grinned - Lou’s stomach fluttered at the sight of it - and quickly snapped a picture of Lou smiling.

 

There was a moment where neither of them moved. Lou had no idea what to do. Did she hand her phone over to Nick and ask for her number? Did she ask her to dance? What did she do?

 

Nick reached out and gently squeezed Lou’s fingers in her own. Promising to call, Nick gave Lou a small, sweet smile that knocked the breath from Lou before disappearing back to her friends.

 

After standing, stunning in silence for a few moments, the boys rushed around her. Their questions bounced off of her and Lou spent the next hour smiling at everything and nothing at the same time.

 

**

 

_i’ll see you on friday at 5? my sister said she can drive us there and pick us up. xx_

 

Lou screeched into her pillow. It was one thirty-eight in the morning according to the clock on her bedside table.

 

_it’s nick, btw. sorry, i should have said that!xx_

 

Lou’s cheeks hurt so much from grinning down at her phone.

 

_you’re probably sleeping. sorry, lou. i’m just really happy you said yes. xx_

 

Closing her eyes, Lou took a deep breath and tried not to let her imagination run away. 

 

**_I’ll see you friday._** Louis typed slowly. **_i’m really looking forward to it_**. **_xx_**

 

As far as messages went it was probably a little too cool and collected, but given the last few months of torment and the excitement that threatened to keep her awake until the morning light, Lou figured it would have to do.

 

**

 

Four Months Later

 

**

 

“But I don’t wanna go,” Nick moaned.

 

She was slumped against Lou as if she were an inanimate object rather than Lou's lovely girlfriend. Girlfriend! Lou felt a thrill run through her. It had been four months since the Leavers Ball and The Killers gig in Manchester and now Nick was her girlfriend. 

 

Nick pouted up at her, her forehead furrowed and brown eyes full of tears. “Liverpool is so far from Salford.” Nick moaned.

 

They’d had this conversation before. Several times actually. They’d picked their Universities long before they’d ever really talked and despite some reluctance at the long distance thing, they’d agreed they could make it work.

 

“It’s only an hour at best, Nick,” Lou said, planting a soft kiss on Nick’s forehead. “We’re going to see each other on weekends and we can have date nights in Warrington and dirty weekends in Chester and Runcorn and all those dreadful places we’ve only seen on Google maps.”

 

Nick laughed at that. The corners of her eyes crinkling in a way that Lou had quickly come to love. 

 

“And when you come visit me in Manchester we’re going to lock ourselves in my room and watch all those horribly soppy films you claim to detest and cuddle in bed until you have to drive back in the wee hours of the morning.” Lou reminded her. They had plans and back up plans after that. They were going to make this work. “And we’re going to be disgustingly happy.”

 

Nick leant up and pressed her lips to Lou’s. They were supposed to be packing Lou’s stuff into her car, not making out. Not that Lou was going to complain or anything.

“Alright, alright,” Niall boomed. “Get a room already.”

 

Flipping Niall off, Lou continued to kiss Nick. What would a few minutes delay in their schedules cost them in the long run?

 

“If I knew we were going to have to spray them with cold water or pry them apart with a crowbar I never would have encouraged this,” Harry said with a heavy sigh.

 

Lou could hear the fond smile in his voice and she laughed into Nick’s mouth.

 

If someone had told her at the beginning of the school year that she would end it with two A’s, and a B and be going to the University of her choice, she would have laughed. She also would have laughed if someone had suggested that Nick would want anything to do with her, let alone want to kiss her and make a long distance relationship work.

 

Grinning at Nick who was grousing at having to lug a backpack with Lou’s clothes in it, Lou felt an overwhelming rush of adoration which only surged when Liam huffed and picked the bag out of Nick’s arms. Lou chuckled to herself when Nick argued that Liam should let her do it.

 

“Lou, I’m going to need to you to silence this one,” Liam said, lightly pushing Nick until she staggered towards Lou.

 

Snickering into Nick’s neck, Lou wrapped her arms around Nick’s waist and held her in place. Kissing the side of Nick’s neck, Lou smiled when Nick’s protests became soft breathy sighs.

 

Everything was way too wonderful for this to be real life.

 


End file.
